One way or another the state of Texas is going to have to come to terms with this fact: Obamacare is going to be the law of the land come January 2014.

We hope the U.S. Congress will have the good sense to spend the next few months making the Affordable Care Act more user-friendly and, well, affordable by cutting out the things that add expense and diminish choice, and by adding things that will increase price competitiveness.

In Austin, we see our state lawmakers' major task as coming up with a state registry for health care that reflects the preferences of Texans in every way possible while passing muster with the federal agency that must sign off on it.

The alternative of refusing to participate in the federal program that guarantees a 100 percent federal match for Medicaid, the provider of services for Texans' poorest, for the next three years, is unthinkable. So is presenting a state plan that lawmakers know full well will be turned down by the federal authorities. The health of our most vulnerable Texans and the big dollars involved make getting this right imperative.

We think there's a middle way. A good start on creating this has been made by a group called Community Health Choice, a Houston-based managed care organization focused on meeting the needs of low-income families. Its objective is to hit the sweet spot that Texans will like and federal authorities will approve.

The problem of the uninsured in Texas is numerically daunting. More than 6 million of our fellow Texans go without insurance, including nearly 2.7 million whose incomes are between zero and 133 percent of the federal poverty level. About 800,000 are undocumented workers, but 5 million are citizens.

Community Health Choice is calling for what it describes as a "unique Texas solution" that would acknowledge the political reality in this state where federally administered registries are unacceptable.

Instead, it backs a system that would cut down on the complexity of Obamacare while matching up well with the needs of huge numbers of Texans all across the income strata.

Houston and Harris County property taxpayers have an enormous stake in the successful creation of such a program. Each year more than $500 million in county property taxes goes to fund health care expenses. This burden is dumped on local taxpayers by the refusal of the state to create a fair and equitable system.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, who is on the very front lines in this battle, supports the expansion of Medicaid, noting that "it doesn't make any sense for the state not to take federal dollars." Emmett is a mainstream Republican whose views should be heeded in Austin.

As the March 8 deadline for filing bills in the Texas Legislature approaches, Community Health Choice is working to gather lawmakers' and business and health care community leaders' support for its plan. Its detailed proposal offers an informed, nuts and bolts approach to a difficult and expensive problem that is not going away.

It's a thoughtful beginning that offers sensible solutions to a difficult problem.